The 12-minute video was apparently shot on August 19 at a seminar at a school in Samut Prakan.

Sunai tells the audience of around 1,000 red shirts to find a farang husband for an easy life “because European governments give you everything for free.”

Sunai went on: “Get a German husband. Get a Swedish husband. Get a Norwegian husband. People used to love [Thailand] unreservedly. But the more they loved the country, the poorer they got. The more they loved the country, the stupider they got.”

“All you need is a farang husband and their government will pay you to study,” he said.

Even more controversially, he then implied that the best way to study a foreign language was by sleeping with a foreigner.

“Sitting studying is too slow. Lie down to study, then go to the hospital. They will pay you to have the baby… It’s all free, right up to the shitty diapers.”

Many web users were furious at Sunai’s comments. They said they were highly inappropriate coming from an MP, particularly one in the Pheu Thai Party whose prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, had become the first woman to administer the country.

Sunai later told reporters that he had never meant to insult Thai women. He just wanted to show Thais how far behind their welfare state was when compared with European countries.

He said he had been saying such things for some time and it was because he wanted Thailand to have a welfare system that was the equal of those in other countries, where education and maternity services are free.